Oh, and BIG surprise in this chapter. We learn a bit more about the Shihouin siblings... I have made a little summary of this chapter! But it won't give anything away...

Summary: Shihouin Tale is late again for yet another meeting, her brother his having an affair with a peasent bar-mistress, and she's agruing with the Council of Nobles yet again! But... who is this mysterious man showing up in her office late one night...?

Yeah... Maybe it did give a bit away? You'll just have to read and find out!

Disclaimer: I only own the Shihouin siblings, and that's it... and the plot. Oh I LURVE my plot...

"Shihouin-taichou!" a voice rang as footsteps followed, while a young looking young man ran through the hardwood halls trying to find his captain. The captain he was looking for had not been seen since the night before, and only one thing could be thought… She has slipped away and was currently passed out somewhere from drinking so much sake. And you think after five decades of being a captain she would have learned not to drink the night before a captain's meeting... Wrong!

"Shihouin-taichou, where are you?!" Lower seats, which were awoken by the yelling, only groaned and rolled back over in their beds, still wanting a bit of peace with the next few moments of sleep that they could get. The young man only huffed out a sigh as he came to a stop and leaned against a wall, catching his breath from running around for the past half hour looking for his mischievous captain. With no such luck, might I add.

"Wha~t?" The blackette boy looked up at the honey-sweet voice and anger soon filled his dark eyes. There she was… fitted in a maroon red silk robe and her hair cascading down her back reaching closer and closer to her knees each year. She had been told many times to cut it, but she refused and threatened to kill if anyone touched her hair.

"Shihouin-taichou, where have you been?! You're already an hour late for the monthly Captain's meeting! Hurry and dress so you will not be yelled at, yet again!" Shihouin Tale only yawned into her hand and walked back into her room, flopping down on her futon with a sleepy sigh and snuggled deeper in her blankets.

"Ah well, Era-kun. Since I'm already late, why go now when I can hold out the yelling and scolding and catch up on… my much… needed…" a snore soon followed as the purple-haired captain dozed back off into sleep.

'Era-kun', was actually the third seat of the Second Squad. The lieutenant was currently on a mission to the Living Realm, and who knew when he could be back…

"But Shihouin-taichou; I heard from Shihouin-dono it was going to be a very important meeting, more important than the Royal Sakura Ball that is coming up in a few days!" Tale snapped her eyes open at the sound of her brother's name. How did he learn the meeting was going to be im- oh yeah; he was lieutenant of the Eleventh Squad. Of course he'd have to go since his captain was always finding excuses to stay far away from the meetings.

"Fine, fine, Era-kun; if I must get up so early just for a meeting I'm already late to…" Sitting up on the futon that was sat on the wooden floor, she gave a tired-stare to the boy telling him to get out so she could change. He scurried away, making sure the door was closed fully and locked as she stood and walked to her wardrobe.

Pulling out her normal uniform, she slipped of the robe and placed her hair up in a high ponytail, still wiping the sleep from her eyes. After making sure no wrinkle was in her haori, Tale slipped into the hallway, waving to her tired looking subordinates, and shunpo-ed to the First Squad's meeting room.

Once arriving, she found that the captains and lieutenants were actually leaving. Placing a smile onto her pale-pink lips, she skipped slightly to the bored looking captains, except three. Those three captains had been classmates with Tale, like all the others (but they weren't in many of her same classes as these three), while she was a mere student, but now she was a captain, a teacher teaching those who were still learning, and teaching herself a few things.

One certain captain was Unohana Retsu. She was the head of the Fourth Squad, also head of the Medical Corps. She was very sweet looking and had a motherly aura, but could be quite scary when needed. She had shoulder-length black hair that was placed into a braid that made her hair seem even shorter than it was.

Another was Kyouraku Shunsui. Only two words could describe him. A womanizer and a big flirt; he had nice brushed-chin length chocolate colored hair and a small thinly shaved beard that made him look even more like a lazy bum. Although he was always seen with a flowery patterned haori over his own captain's. It seemed he wasn't much for rules.

And last, but not least, Ukitake Juushiro. He was sweet, kind, and deathly ill with an incurable disease. He wasn't much for pity when a fit of coughing started to rack at his lungs, but after it moved on, he'd smile like nothing happened. He was a confident one, wanting it to seem like he was perfectly okay, when everything wasn't. Being the oldest of eight children was not easy, at all.

Although these three captains pretty much had nothing in common with each other, or Tale herself, they all seemed to be quite close friends, going to the other when needing help.

"Late yet again, I see, Tale-chan…" a chuckle soon followed the deep-throaty voice as Tale only glared at the brunette from the corner of her eye as she continued into the meeting room.

A dark-purple haired boy moved in between the people, trying to keep himself hidden, even with the dark cloak that sat on his shoulders, covering every feature; except a few spikes of dark-violet hair. As he entered a bar within one of the low-life districts of the Rukongai, his golden eyes searched for a face that he had been longing to see.

"Avaya," the young girl with such name turned at the whisper of it from her place behind the bar, serving sake to those ordering, and smiled as a familiar tan face came into few.

"Ryu, it's so nice to see you again! How are you?" The golden eyes sparkled with happiness, and mischievous, as he grabbed the girls arm and pulled her into the back room of the bar. Letting the cloak fall to show his uniform, the light-weighted copper lieutenant badge resting on his left bicep; Ryu smiled at the fair-haired woman.

"I've been great, Ava-chan. It's wonderful to see you, yet again, too. I had to sneak away, like always, from my captain." A soft giggle filled the heating air as skin soon came into contact with skin. Lips crushed again lips as a lightly bared back was pressed to the wall behind her. Ava laughed onto her lover's lips as he gripped her thighs, lifting her feet from her ground; her skirt wadding up at her waist.

"It's like a forbidden love…" Tale one said to her brother as she found out about the star-crossed lovers affair. "The Noble and the peasant bar-mistress; that would make a wonderful story to tell the children!" She only smiled at her joke, patted her brother's back, and went on with her business. He always thanked her for not telling the council of the Nobles. If they had found out… he wouldn't only be without a lover, but with a family too.

The large room was silent as a woman sat on her knees with a high-held head. A violet and peach-orange kimono covered all skin, along with a headdress that showed of her nobility. She stared at the many aging men that sat in front of her; they were the council of Nobles. They told the shots around here, the rules and laws that all nobles must follow. And it was her time to follow a certain one.

"Shihouin-hime, you have become far after the age of marrying, and yet you are unwedded. Why is that? Are ye afraid of marriage, or is ye not telling the council the truth of something?" Golden-amber eyes narrowed into a thin slit as a low growl escaped her throat.

"Our love life is not of ye's concern. If we have been wedded, wouldn't ye think we would have told ye, and let the Society know of the unavailability of us?" Tale used the royal form of speaking, talking as if talking for all of her relatives in her family. Her brother sat only a few feet back at her side in his royal attire.

The council mutters something to the other and one spoke out. "It is not what the council is meaning, Shihouin-hime. The council is just saying that ye has been unwedded for so long after the needed age, and the council is beginning to think something is wrong, or there is something not being told." Yet another growl was let out, and she stood from her kneeling position on the dark-purple cushion.

"There is nothing that we have to tell of marriage and lies! If ye are only worried about those, then this meeting has been adjourned!" Tale stormed away from the many aging men and out of the royal room, down the hall, and toward her own room of her home. It wasn't a palace, yet it wasn't a house either. It was in-between, just the size for her family, a few extra rooms for guests, a kitchen, bathrooms, the many rooms that were used for meetings and parties. It was the regular life of Shihouin Tale.

Tale muttered under of breath as the maids pulled off the silk and linen fabric for her to dress back into her normal shinigami attire. If the servants had not been fast, the silk and linen would have been nothing but shreds, now; and the headdress would have been nothing but a hump of metal and shreds, either.

After having her hair back up into its high-ponytail, the Second Division's captain moved hastily through the halls reaching the back garden where the gate would open and give access to the Seireitei so Tale may enter. After disappearing into a flash of white light, her brother soon followed.

'Here we go again…'

Drunken laughs were heard in the late night of the Seireitei, and many were just chatters going on in the many bars that lined the small streets. The door, to a certain one, busted open with anger from the one standing in its doorway. All heads quickly turned to face the boy and give him a piece of their mind, but when they found it to be a captain, all quickly went back to their business.

Tale strutted inbetween the many tables and sat on one of the free bar stools; one hand propping her head up with chin-on-palm, and the other reaching for the sliding glass of liquor. Everyone knew, that in this bar that if you mess with a drinking, or already drunk, Shihouin, you don't get out without at least something missing or hurting like hell. It was a rule that was stated and written in blood on day one. Disobey the rule, you're blood will be on that rule too.

"Thanks, Kai," Tale said as she sipped at the liquid as it burned down her throat. The bartender only nodded to her and went back to the rest of his customers. Taking the glass in both hands, Tale swished the amber drink around and around, watching as the dim light reflected off its surface. Her thoughts drifted, and she didn't notice the presence beside her, until her name was spoken.

"Tale-nii-chan…" The captain looked up and to her brother, sighing as he took his own drink. "You know the council is right…" Tale gave a stern stare telling Ryu to shut it, or be hurting like hell like any other soul in the room. He maybe her little brother, but the rule still applied to him.

"I don't feel like talking about it, Ryu. Shouldn't you be worrying more about your love life, rather than mine? I just haven't found the right man, alright? Either they have good looks and is a rich snob only wanting power, or they're not of nobility and I can't marry someone who does not have noble blood!" Her short lecture was in a whisper as she chugged the rest of her drink and stood to leave.

Ryu only sighed at his sister's stubbornness, and left a few coins on the counter to pay for their drinks.

Tale sat at her desk, signing the few papers needed about the new graduates coming in a few weeks. Classes were beginning to end, and exams were being graded. Her hand only slipped across the paper with pen at hand, signing and stacking them in a pile to be taken to the First Squad the next day.

Hearing a knock at her office's door, she answered with a quick 'Come in', and kept signing. Looking up at a moment of silence, she stared at the formally dressed man before her. "May I help you?" Setting down the pen, Tale leaned back in her chair and entwined her fingers together as they sat on her desk.

A small smirk over took his features, green eyes glinting and dark blonde hair framing his face. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Shihouin-hime. My name is Yukon Jun. I am your new fiancé…"

So... um... What did you think?

Review please!

-Ms. D